Mage

Updated November 3, 2026

The mage is the classic ranged caster: big damage, crowd control (sheep, freezes, slows) and utility no one else brings, like free food and water, teleports and portals. Forever adds Ice Lance, Frostfire Bolt, an Arcane tree rebuilt around Arcane Blast and Arcane Wrath, and a mage-only system for deciphering scrolls. It suits players who like fighting from range and controlling the fight, and who accept dying fast when they slip up.

The specs

Recommended races

Leveling spec: Frost

For leveling we recommend Frost, like most guides (Method, Warcraft Tavern, Icy Veins, Mobalytics). It is the safest tree: your spells slow, Frostbite and Fingers of Frost open freeze windows, and Ice Lance plus Shatter do the heavy hitting there. Frost Channeling makes spells cheaper, and from 40 you have Ice Barrier. The plan is simple: Frostbolt from range, Ice Lance when the enemy is frozen, Frost Nova if it gets close. Arcane also works solo (one guide prefers it for its mana savings) and Fire does better in dungeons. Note: the tree changed on 28 and 30 October and Blizzard confirmed it in its 2 November notes (goodbye Piercing Ice, Arcane Focus and Frost Blast); this build already uses the new tree.

Talents, point by point

Leveling as Damage (Fire) · Fire (0/44/7)

For players who want the highest single-target damage and plan to dungeon and raid as Fire at 60. It burns more mana and has less control than Frost, so expect to eat and drink more often.

Leveling as Damage (Arcane) · Arcane (42/9/0)

For players who want the reworked Forever tree: Arcane Blast and Arcane Wrath deal a lot of damage quickly. It levels fine solo, but you must watch your mana and it relies on random procs.

Leveling as Group AoE damage (Frost AoE) · Frost (0/20/31)

For leveling in a group by pulling many enemies and killing them together with Blizzard, Cone of Cold and Flamestrike. Only worth it with another mage or a partner who can take hits; for solo play, use the main build.

Key abilities by level

How to kill while leveling

1. Before you start: Ice Armor (or Frost Armor), Arcane Intellect and, from 40, Ice Barrier.
2. Open with Frostbolt from max range and cast another while the slowed enemy walks in.
3. When Frostbite or Fingers of Frost triggers, cast Ice Lance right away: it is your biggest hit.
4. If it reaches you: Frost Nova, step a few yards away and finish with Ice Lance while it is frozen.
5. Two enemies? Polymorph the second one and kill the first.
6. To finish on the move, Fire Blast or your wand (Fire Blast shares its cooldown with Ice Lance: don't spend it if a freeze is coming). Frost Blast no longer exists since 2 November.
7. Between fights, drink conjured water; if you run dry mid-fight, use a mana gem and Evocation.

Food and water, teleports, portals and group AoE

• Conjure Water gets new ranks at levels 4, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60; Conjure Food at 6, 12, 22, 32, 42, 52 and 60. Each cast gives 20 items (10 for the level 60 rank) and needs no reagents. The trainer does not sell the level 60 ranks: they come from a book, quest or drop.
• Conjured items vanish if you stay logged out for more than 15 minutes: do not stockpile before logging off.
• Mana gems: Agate (28), Jade (38), Citrine (48) and Ruby (58). They restore mana instantly in combat.
• Teleports (just you, 10 sec cast, use a Rune of Teleportation): level 20 Stormwind and Ironforge (Alliance) or Orgrimmar and Undercity (Horde); level 30 Darnassus or Thunder Bluff.
• Portals (for the whole group, 850 mana and 1 min cooldown, use a Rune of Portals): level 40 Stormwind and Ironforge or Orgrimmar and Undercity; level 50 Darnassus or Thunder Bluff.
• Teleports and portals are not taught by the regular trainer but by the portal trainer in the capitals (Alliance: Stormwind, Ironforge and Darnassus; Horde: Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff and Undercity). New in Forever: Teleport: Dalaran at level 50.
• Group AoE: kill experience is split and drops sharply if someone is much higher level. Being boosted by a 60 is not worth it: group with players your level and clear dungeons or crowded areas.
• How to do it: let the tank gather the enemies; with threat on the tank, Blizzard. If they come for you, Frost Nova, a step back and Flamestrike or Cone of Cold; Arcane Explosion when they are on top of you. Always keep mana for a Frost Nova and a Blink.
• Classic-style solo AoE (dragging dozens of enemies with Blizzard) is toned down: Improved Blizzard slows 40% at most and Cone of Cold only fully controls 4 targets. Start with small packs of 3 or 4 and build up slowly.

Tips

• A wand from level 1 (about 15 minutes): sell what you start with until you have about 2 silver, learn Enchanting from your city trainer and buy a Copper Rod, two Mote of Magic and a Simple Wood. Craft the Runed Copper Rod (Copper Rod + Mote of Magic) and then the Novice's Practice Wand (Simple Wood + Mote of Magic), usable from level 1. Finishing with a wand saves mana from the very first minute. If you don't want Enchanting later, you can unlearn it.
• Get a wand early: at low levels it finishes enemies without spending mana.
• Frost Blast is gone (2 November). For a cheap slow, a low-rank Frostbolt works again: since that day low ranks trigger Frostbite normally. Only Blizzard is still penalized if you use a rank learned more than 12 levels below yours.
• Since 2 November, what you learn at the trainer no longer lands on your action bars by itself: open your spellbook and drag it there. Training everything from 1 to 60 costs about 206-207 gold, the same for every class.
• Polymorph heals the target very quickly: do not use it on one you already hurt if you plan to kill it last.
• From 40, portals also make money: in capitals plenty of players look for a mage to send them to another city and usually leave a tip. Offer them in the trade channel when you have some spare time.
• Pick up and decipher scrolls with Comprehend Scroll: they give temporary buffs. If you fail you may turn into a sheep for a bit, so do it out of combat and standing still.
• Do the class quests (around levels 10, 15 and 26): they reward staves, robes and wands.
• Visit the trainer every even level: there is almost always a new rank.
• With the «Talented» Legacy perk you get talent points up to 5 levels earlier; the build stays the same, it just comes sooner.
• Dual specialization arrives at level 40: you can level as Frost and keep Fire ready for dungeons.
• The beta variant with Missile Barrage no longer works: it put 2 points into Missile Barrage (Arcane) at 21-22, but since 2 November that talent sits in row 2 and you need 5 Arcane points first. Follow the build above.
• Weapons you can learn: daggers, one-handed swords and staves; wands are built in and need no training. Your race already knows one; the rest come from a weapon master. Each skill costs 10 silver from a capital-city weapon master and can be learned from level 1; polearms cost 1 gold and need level 20. Learn all three early so you can equip any Intellect or spell power weapon that drops: on a mage the weapon is for stats, not damage, and the wand finishes enemies off.

Level faster with the 5 experience boosts (food, sleeping bag, tent, inn and Legacy).

Key levels

In PvP

In dungeons and raids

Keybinds and macros

• Move with W and S, strafe on A and D, and always turn with the right mouse button: keyboard turning is too slow for jump-turns.
• Put Frost Nova, Blink, Ice Lance and Fire Blast next to WASD (Q, E, R, F, 1-4): they are what you press while running.
• Focus sheep macro: /cast [@focus] Polymorph. Set the second enemy as focus and sheep it without changing target.
• Interrupt macro: /stopcasting with /cast Counterspell below it, so you can interrupt even mid-cast.

Every technique, explained for any class: Gameplay techniques

Raids open on 9 December, so there are no real damage logs or Forever gear lists yet. Since 2 November every class deals more damage and high-level enemies have more health, and Blizzard doesn't plan big tuning changes until raids open. That day's notes confirmed the tree changes from 28 and 30 October: Piercing Ice, Arcane Focus and the Frost Blast spell are gone; Precision is back to 3 points (6% hit with everything), Incineration now has 5 ranks and Critical Mass 3; Ice Lance deals 300% more to frozen targets and shares an 8 sec cooldown with Fire Blast; Ice Barrier and Winter's Chill get much stronger; Arcane Resilience moves to row 1 with 3 ranks and Missile Barrage to row 2; and Arcane Blast gives less power but costs less. The most planned level 60 builds from the beta (0/29/22 Fire, 0/0/51 Frost and 47/4/0 Arcane) no longer fit as they were: the Frost tree only holds 48 points. What follows are priorities, not final builds.

Fire · Ranged DPS

Frost · Ranged DPS and control

Arcane · Ranged burst DPS

Gear

There is no Forever gear list yet: the new dungeons bring hundreds of items and raids do not open until 9 December. Until then, prioritize spell power and then hit until you stop missing bosses often. Tailoring makes cloth with spell power from low levels and is the easiest way to gear up when you hit 60.

• Frost is the PvP tree: slows, freezes, Ice Block and Cold Snap buy you time to cast.
• Basic combo: Frost Nova, a few steps back and Ice Lance (or Frostbolt) while the enemy is still frozen.
• Blink removes stuns and roots: save it for a rogue's opener or a warrior's charge, do not burn it on reflex.
• Counterspell the important heals; with Improved Counterspell (Arcane) it also silences for 4 sec.
• Polymorph the healer or the second enemy to fight one on one; Remove Lesser Curse clears warlock curses and Banes.
• In battlegrounds, Cone of Cold and Blizzard slow groups at the flags; Frostfire Bolt slows too.
• Race matters: Undead against fears, Human against stuns, Gnome against slows and Orc against warlocks.

Sources: Notas de desarrollo de Blizzard (2 de noviembre) · ForeverChanges: cambios sacados de los datos del juego (30-10) · Blizzard: análisis de clases de Forever (mago y chamán) · Blizzard: notas de desarrollo de Forever (foros) · Talents Forever (datos del cliente de la beta, CC BY 4.0) · Method: guía de subida del mago · Warcraft Tavern: guía de subida del mago · Warcraft Tavern: guía del mago · Warcraft Tavern: experiencia en Forever · Zockify: mago en Forever · wow.gg: mago de Escarcha en la beta · Mobalytics: subida con AoE de Escarcha · Icy Veins: subida del mago de Escarcha · Warcraft Wiki: kiting del mago y jump-kiting (todas las ediciones) · Skill Capped: guía de JcJ del mago de Escarcha (TBC) · Icy Veins: guía de JcJ del mago (WoW Classic Era) · Skill Capped: glosario de JcJ (WoW Retail).